The 2024 Yidan Prize, regarded as the world’s top accolade in education, has been awarded to Professor Wolfgang Lutz and the team behind War Child Alliance’s ‘Can’t Wait to Learn’ initiative, for their groundbreaking contributions to global education. The Yidan Prize Foundation, based in Hong Kong, has awarded a total of HK$480 million (approximately £50 million) to innovators in education, half of which supports further development of their work.
Professor Wolfgang Lutz, an expert in demography and sustainable development, received the Yidan Prize for Education Research. His work demonstrates the long-term benefits of investing in universal primary and secondary education, highlighting how such efforts lead to improvements in health, gender equity, economic growth, and climate resilience.
Lutz, a distinguished scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria, is also the founding director of the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital. His statistical research on education’s multiplier effect provides essential data to policymakers on how best to allocate resources for the greatest societal benefit.
With the Yidan Prize funds, Lutz plans to establish research centres in South Africa and Thailand, in partnership with the University of Cape Town and Chulalongkorn University. These centres will focus on training statisticians to support policy decisions in Africa and expanding research on climate change adaptation through education.
The second Yidan Prize, for Education Development, has been awarded to War Child Alliance’s ‘Can’t Wait to Learn’ initiative. The programme, led by Professor Mark Jordans, Marwa Zahr, and Luke Stannard, provides digital education to marginalised children in conflict-affected areas. It uses technology such as tablets and mobile phones to teach literacy and numeracy skills through interactive games, tailored to local cultures and aligned with national curricula.
‘Can’t Wait to Learn’ operates in eight countries, including Uganda, Ukraine, Jordan, and South Sudan, and has reached over 205,000 children to date. The Yidan Prize will help the team to scale up the project, testing and optimising their programme in additional countries.
The foundation’s commitment to improving education aligns with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 4, which calls for inclusive and equitable quality education for all. Speaking about the importance of their work, Lucy Lake, Director of Global Engagement at the Yidan Prize Foundation, emphasised the necessity of placing education at the centre of global development strategies.
Dr Charles Chen Yidan, the founder of the Yidan Prize, said: “The achievements of our 2024 laureates are critical in preparing the next generations for an uncertain future.”
Since its inception, the Yidan Prize has recognised 19 changemakers in education, including the 2023 laureate Shai Reshef, founder of the University of the People, and 2022 laureate Dr Linda Darling-Hammond, whose work has shaped education policy across 15 countries.
The 2024 awards will be presented at a ceremony in Hong Kong on 8 December, followed by the annual Yidan Prize Summit, which will explore resilience in education.
Nominations for the 2025 Yidan Prize will open on 25 October 2024.
